A 'Game Of Thrones' Character Profile: Daenerys Targaryen

'A Game of Thrones' Season Three is little more than a couple weeks away now. We thought it was time to get re-acquainted with the people and places of Westeros and Essos, so you'll feel refreshed and up-to-date by the time of the premier. So, every couple days for the next month or so, we're bringing you people and places from the world of Game of Thrones, complete with informative tidbits from both the show and the books.

Hopefully, this well help everyone segue from our long aGoT hiatus, into our HBO issued bliss once more as a Game of Thrones occupies our Sunday evenings again.

Daenerys Targaryan is one of the last of the Targaryans - the former royal family of Westeros. Prior to Robert Baratheon's rebellion, the Targaryan kings were the long-time kings of Westeros, who once, long ago, solidified their reign with dragons. Though dragons are believed (in Westeros) to be all but extinct, the Targaryan family ceremoniously refers to their entire bloodline as 'Dragons' believing in some way, not only sharing a kinship with these long dead beasts, but also blood.

When the rebellion came to an end, and her eldest brother Rhaegar fell at the Battle of the Trident, Daenerys and her brother Viserys were smuggled away across the sea by loyalist forces to the Free City of Pentos where they were put under the watchful eye of a merchant prince named Illyrio Mopatis. Years went by, and Daenerys and Viserys grew up, being told by Illyrio that King Robert's ability to rule Westeros was fading, and that soon Viserys would return to claim the Iron throne, where Targaryen loyalists would come to his aid.

To facilitate this though, Viserys would need an army, which he would get by marrying Daenerys off to a local warlord, Khal Drogo. Daenerys initially thinks these people, called the Dothraki are a barbaric and backwards people, but comes to realize that there is a certain severe appeal to their way of life, distinctly lacking in the self-entitled nobility that her brother expects. Khal Drogo, eventually kills Viserys when he becomes too uppity, by 'crowning him' with molten gold.

Khal Drogo soon too, passes away, suffering from an infected battle wound, from which he never fully recovers, even with the help of a local witch, who trades Daenery's baby's soul for Drogo, who lives on in only a catatonic state. Even after her husbands death, some of Daenery's 'Khalasar' (the nomadic following of a khal) continues to follow her, despite this running against the cultural grain. After burning the witch who failed to bring back her husband and wading into the fires, Khaleesi Daenerys emerged with three newly hatched dragons - the last three left in the world.

From there Daenerys was welcomed into the city of Qarth where she was a kept as a wonder or freak show of sorts, where her dragons were the main spectacle. She quickly found that the Qarthleen people were no less apt to scheming and backstabbing than the Westerosi people were, and were intent on keeping her and her dragons for themselves. After beign captured by a member of the local warlocks guild, and held hostage, Daenerys willed her dragons to breathe fire immolating her captors and, and freeing her from her shackles. She and her Khalasar looted and left Qarth after finding that the City's vault, which she had been assured by eligible suitor Xaro Xhoan Daxos was full of riches which she would use to sail to Westeros, was empty.

Interesting Facts:

♦ Daenerys is sometimes referred to as 'Stormborn.' Her birth was in the midst of raging storm, which sunk the entirety of the Targaryen fleet - earning her the popular moniker.

♦ It is noted that she had purple eyes and platinum hair, a hallmark of the Targaryan bloodline, a mutation possibly due to centuries of close familial marriages and incest.

♦ Her three dragons are named Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon, after the names of her two brothers and late husband.

♦ Her closest companion and personal bodyguard Jorah Mormont, is the son of the current Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and was exiled from Westeros by the late Eddard Stark for trading slaves.